Scent of Joss Sticks, Smell of Blood
by Ren Estera
Summary: There wasn't much of a difference, when you stopped to think about it. Between the East and the West. Between Good and Evil. Between being a Human and being a Vampire. Between Him and Her. It all came down to how you looked at it. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"- William Shakespeare. KolXOC
1. Mystic Falls

What is humanity?

According to the internet, it is the quality of being humane; benevolence. It is a set of strengths that focuses on tending to and befriending others. These strengths are love, kindness and social intelligence.

But who is to say what humanity comprises of? Who or what gives them the right?

There is the Confucian theory where humanity is the love of people, _Ren_; that if you want to make a stand, you help others make a stand.

And then there is the Greek theory by Plato and Aristotle, valuing love and kindness.

And lastly, there is the Abrahamic theory, where humanity is one of Thomas Aquinas's Seven Heavenly Virtues.

In the end, all three shared similarities of love and kindness. And all these were from Wikipedia.

But really, who are these people to state what humanity is?

Should humanity not be something a person defines for themselves? Something that makes them feel what it is like to be human? _Their_ meaning of being human?

Why should someone ever state for us what we have to display to achieve humanity?

That is not to say murder is being humane.

But perhaps it all comes down to how you look at it.

Imagine a poor kitten, diseased and starved. It rubs itself against your legs, seeking comfort from the pain and hunger. But comfort or shelter is something you cannot provide, not in the long run. You can give it food, but then it will be hungry again after time passes and you are no longer there to give it food.

So you choke it.

End its life, quickly.

Is that humane?

Some will quickly say no. Some will say it is mercy.

But who is to say what is right or wrong, really?

It all comes down to the person choking that tiny little kitten with their hands, fingers wrapped around its thin neck.

Perhaps it is wrong. Perhaps it is mercy.

There is too much to factor and too much to consider.

To Elena Gilbert, her compassion for her friends and family is her humanity. She is willing to go to any lengths if it was for them. To Stefan Salvatore, it is his ability to love with his whole heart. To Caroline Forbes, it is her open mind that allows her to see kindness in others where others might see none.

To Esther Mikaelson, it is the instinct to protect her family, and correcting the mistakes of the past.

To Finn Mikaelson, it is his honor, his abhorrence of being creatures that required the life of others to live.

To Rebekah Mikaelson, it is her need to love and feel loved, quickly giving her heart out to those who is willing to take a bit of time to peer beneath.

To Klaus Mikaelson, it is the feeling of segregation laid upon him by others; the anger, jealousy, possessiveness and loneliness.

To Elijah Mikaelson, it is his nobility, to be able to stand above the dark and dirty to uphold his definition of kindness and justice.

To Kol Mikaelson…well, who knows, really?

Jay certainly didn't. In fact, she didn't know about what humanity meant to any of the people she just thought of. Those were just her assumptions.

And who was she to assume such things? Assuming makes an ass out of you and me, as they say.

The only definition of humanity she knew was her own. The only one she was certain of and was allowed to preach to no one but herself.

To Jay, before she met The Mikaelsons and the other mystical residents of Mystic Falls, her humanity was found in her love for animals and nature; the need to do right by animals and ensuring the continuity of Mother Nature's beauty.

Volunteering at animal shelters, joining her local Earth Club, spreading awareness about animal rights and environmental protection, giving her voice to the voiceless…

What good did that humanity did for her? Nothing really. Maybe not for her, but in the long run, she was certain Mother Nature will give back; if not to her then to her children and grandchildren.

But it still poses the question what good it did for her.

It didn't really matter, because perhaps humanity also meant altruism. In fact, Jay was pretty sure it included altruism, if she went by the different theories and religious figures over history.

But that was her humanity before. Her definition of humanity is different now. Just a little bit different.

It still included love for nature and animals, of course. But there is now a place for another piece of humanitarian definition.

The ability to love another species physically, mentally and emotionally.

She loved animals; she loved her pet cats and dogs. But she will certainly not have thoughts of copulating with them for that meant bestiality. She will not have thoughts of what a future with them would be like.

It was different.

Loving animals and loving a vampire.

And it was hard, and it hardly did her much good, but that is what humanity meant…perhaps, maybe.

It meant going beyond the selfish needs of oneself for the cause one has set for oneself. It meant seeing beyond the surface, peering beneath the layers of dust, blood and dirt to find the good hidden below.

Or maybe all of this was just that part of her talking, that part of her that chose to love a vampire.

And just like protecting animal rights and the environment did not garner any immediate benefit for her, loving a vampire did no such thing either.

But did that matter in the end?

No, it didn't.

Because this is her humanity.

To love and protect animals and nature.

To open her heart out to something, _someone_, without discriminating against what life has turned him into. To give chances.

The great lengths she was capable of opening her heart to for things that neither benefited her nor changed anything for her.

Kindness was her humanity.

Even here now, at the tipping point of her life and death, it did not matter that humanity did nothing for her.

This is what she has discovered and defined for herself.

And no one is going to change that for her except her.

And she briefly wondered why people even bothered with this thing called humanity, why some vampires were so keen on holding onto it when they could have just turned it off.

It brought nothing but heartbreak and pain.

And more pain.

And Jay kind of wished she could turn it off, like the vampires are able to.

But she couldn't.

And even if she could…would she really turn it off?

She didn't know.

But she certainly wished she could turn off the pain coursing through her shivering body and erratic heart.

But she couldn't.

And that's what mattered: she couldn't.

* * *

_Scent of Joss Sticks, Smell of Blood_

_Chapter One: Mystic Falls_

_~The supernatural is the natural not yet understood~_

_-Elbert Hubbard_

* * *

Closing the car door shut, Jay turned around to look at her surroundings, eyes squinting against the glaring sunlight. The sound of other car doors closing shut resonated behind and beside her, the vehicle trembling slightly beside her form from the rough treatment.

"Well, this is it."

Mystic Falls.

A town with trimmed grass and towering woods, historical buildings and modern homes, elderly people and young people alike.

It was quaint.

And nice.

Jay quite liked it.

It wasn't anything like how her friend described: boring, quiet, dull, lame.

"It's not so bad." She commented, turning to settle her eyes on the blond that stood on the driver's side. He rolled his eyes, fingers drumming against the top of the car.

"It's bad once you had lived in it for most of your life. It gets boring _real_ quick," he said.

"Pssh, yea, you find a lot of things boring Ryan," a voice piped up from beside Jay, causing the girl to turn to its owner. Medium long blond hair tied in a braid, Cecilie stood at half a head taller than Jay, with a fit and athletic figure.

Laughter rang from the other side of the car, where a girl with strawberry blond hair was helping a Korean get his bag straight.

"We can talk about Ryan's lack of interest in things all day or get to looking around. We don't have all day," the strawberry blonde, Clementine, commented with humor. "Geez, John, did you really need all of this?"

The Korean guy, John Kim, shrugged his shoulders as he lifted his heavy bag onto his shoulder. "Don't know if we will be coming back, so I want to get as much recorded as I can," he said, patting the bag which contained his camera equipment.

"We're just here to see what Ryan's hometown is like," Jay said, not liking the heavy look of his bag. At least he carried his own items and did not ask others to do it for him, unlike Ryan who had a bad habit of asking others for help with his belongings. And for her, finding out a bit of history about this place for her Occult Studies class was also one of the reasons why she was here.

"I'm telling you guys, there really isn't much here," Ryan repeated exasperatedly, locking his car before taking several steps away from the vehicle.

"That's for us to decide," Cecilie quipped at the tall male who stood at a good 177 centimeters.

He raised his hands in defense along with a brow. "Just saying. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Their group of five had traveled all the way here from Whitmore College for the weekend, to get away from the campus life for at least a weekend. Not that there was anything wrong with campus life. But the majority of their group were not from these parts; Clementine coming in from Denver, Cecilie from Philadelphia, John Kim hailing from Korea and Jay from her queer country of Malaysia.

Ryan was the odd one out of the group. He was from Mystic Falls and after graduating high school, decided to attend Whitmore College to get away from his boring hometown but also wanting to stay close enough to his widowed mother.

The lot of them met at Whitmore College, and for whatever reasons, quickly clicked together. They would hardly call themselves a clique, but they hung out together regularly, with the odd one or fifty-three extra other friends joining in at times.

Jay shared Occult Studies class with John Kim, and it was John who introduced her to Ryan whom he shared history with. Clementine was introduced then to the two males by Jay; Jay met Clementine at their dorm where each had their own single dorm room. And then it was Clementine who had happily pulled Cecilie in, having met during Fresher's Week where they had drunkenly danced together before Clementine puked over the other girl.

It was a long winding path that traversed between how they all met, but met they did and it was an awkward start with their diverse culture, backgrounds and personality but that was what made it fun between all of them.

Their short weekend here at Mystic Falls was planned when Jay and John were handed a research assignment by their Occult Studies teacher, Atticus Shane, to research on a place with significant history and lore in the occult. And what better place to do that than Mystic Falls, a place brimming with lore of vampires, werewolves and witches? Not to mention the fact that the previous teacher of their class was Sheila Bennett, a supposed witch hailing from Mystic Falls.

Jay and John, also known as "_J Squared_" whenever the both of them were together as coined by Cecilie, had been quick to hunt down Ryan to ask for his assistance in their determination to ace their assignment. Things quickly escalated from simple questions about Mystic Falls to a whole weekend crashing at Ryan's home when Clementine was involved.

Ryan was hesitant at first, not wanting to disturb his mother, but he did want to see her again after a few months away and the lively atmosphere their arrival would bring would certainly help to battle away her loneliness. A quick phone call back home and their trip was planned.

Leading their group, Ryan quickly took them on a fast and general tour around the town square, pointing out areas of interest and history briefly. Being a full tour guide was not his agenda of the day, and he was just here to give advice.

"So that's the general location of everything that is important…I think," he said, looking around to see if there was anything he might have missed. "Oh, and there's the Mystic Grill." He pointed towards the establishment on the other side of the street they were on before turning to regard his small entourage. "So…anything else? If not, then I'm going to head back first to drop off our baggage and then see if I can meet some old faces."

"Yea, we'll just meet back here later in the evening and all head to your place together," Clementine said, eager to begin looking around.

Cecilie sighed against the drawl sun beating down on them. "I'm fine with anything."

"Me and Jay should be done by evening…hopefully." John looked at Jay questioningly, but the other girl just shrugged her shoulders back at him with a clueless expression.

"I really don't know how long we'll take," she said, glancing at her iPhone to check the time. "But we have quite a few hours so…"

"Right. Take your time. I'm just gonna go hang and I'll pick you all up here later then," Ryan said before starting to lightly jog away from their group and towards his car. Twisting his body around, he quickly shook a hand formed into the sign for six around his ear. "Call if you need anything!"

"Right."

"Bye-bye!"

"See ya."

"Bye."

"So what are you two gonna do?" Jay turned to Clemetine and Cecilie. "Me and John are gonna gather material for our assignments."

"We'll probably just walk around and see what this place has to offer."

"Which is probably nothing." Cecilie pinched out with a frown.

Laughing Clementine clapped Cecilie on the back. "Aww, come on Cecilie, you can't not want to be _here_ that much?" She began dragging the shorter girl away, who dragged her feet after her reluctantly.

John watched them leave with a shake of his head. "I don't get those two. I swear they're lesbian."

"You have something against lesbians?" Jay asked with a raised brow.

"No, I don't. I was just saying." John replied defensively, readjusting the bag over his shoulder.

With a short laugh, Jay began making her way towards the general direction where Ryan said the Founder's Hall was at. Where better to start their research than the Founder's Hall where many of the town's historical paintings and objects were kept?

They found the place after several wrong turns and the kind pointers by locals. John immediately went to work setting up his camera and taking photos and videos of the place and the historical items on display.

As he did that, Jay wandered around the large building, admiring its architecture and interior design. It was grand, but still had a homey feel to it that made Jay feel like she was not in the 21st century.

She stopped at several framed black and white pictures of what seemed to be the old Founders, eyes briefly passing over each face but not committing to memory any features in particular, as if she was glossing over her textbooks.

She took several notes here and there, but honestly had trouble concentrating on collecting research and was quick to turn her attention onto pieces of art and the delicate carved wood of the furniture.

Jay majored in fine arts at Whitmore College, and had took up Occult Studies as one of her additional classes to add a bit to her repertoire of cultural knowledge which she hoped would help her in her artistic endeavors.

Her temper was mild, and the usual set of manners was drilled into her from societal expectations and pressure: greeting others properly, serving those older than her first at the dinner table, pouring tea for guests and elders before filling her own cup, called each relative by their proper title and the list went on. Of course, she was well aware that some of the manners instilled within her did not necessarily apply overseas but manners, nonetheless.

Her family is of Chinese descent, and she was the third generation to be born in Malaysia, a quirky country of multiple races and culture culminating together in a beautiful mix of tradition and intense racism between political parties. Born on Malaysian soil, she and her parents considered themselves as Malaysian rather than Chinese, though her grandmother had the occasional tendency to insist that they are from China. Jay won't deny that, her ancestors hailed from China after all, but she was born away from that country, ever only being a land of grand history and culture that she read about and having visited several times for the holidays. But she never felt a connection to that land like she did her birth country.

She studied at an American international school in her country for her middle and high school years, had an average GPA of 3.5 and above, and maintained honor student roll throughout the time she was there but so did many other students in the school.

Jay was absolutely horrible at soccer, basketball and any sports that involved a ball but played averagely well in sports involving a racket, particularly badminton. But she still wasn't good enough to maintain a position in the school's varsity team regularly, sometimes playing well and sometimes moving terribly slow. So she got officially kicked off the team after two years.

She considered English to be her first language, speaking the language uncannily well compared to many of her Malaysian friends but that was partly due to the result of her attending an American school for so many years and having been an avid reader of Enid Blyton books when she was a child. She also spoke Cantonese relatively well, as well as Mandarin, but her mastery over Mandarin was weak compared to her parents and many of her other Malaysian-Chinese friends; something which she paid for when she attended an international school rather than a local school. The Malay language is also another language she spoke, for it is the national language of her country but she rarely used it, making her Malay rusty at best.

Her friends at Whitmore found her ability to speak so many languages impressive but it was something very normal amongst Malaysian-Chinese like her, with some of her local friends able to speak an additional one or two languages.

In all, outside her ability to communicate with various different languages, she was quite normal and did not stand out much intellectually or aesthetically.

Passing by a golden framed mirror with carved leaves and vines gliding along the sides, Jay paused in front of the mirror temporarily to check her features, running fingers over her unkempt hair.

She was small in size but not thin like a lamp post. With a height of 160cm, she weighed in at 48kg, fluctuating from time to time. Little muscle lined her body, what muscles she used to have having dwindled down to nothing after getting kicked off her badminton team.

A bit of baby fat also made itself known on her face, giving her round cheeks which she quite disliked, in addition to her round nose. She was envious of Clementine's sharp and high nose and Cecilie's tapered cheeks, which Jay thought gave them an air of adult sexiness, which she wished she possessed. She was located on the childish side of the sexy meter.

Medium length black hair with faded dyed brown locks at the tips, and black eyes, she was average in beauty. Unlike her cousin who had males admiring her everywhere she went, she had only received a confession from a guy once and he had done it over the phone! She turned him down, as a result.

Smiling into the mirror, she checked her teeth, which had spent two years in braces to attain the pristine line they now form. Dimples dotted both sides of her cheek, and a tiny scar nestled at the tip of where her upper and lower lip met on the left side, leftovers from a pimple that haunted her during high school.

Jay admitted she was slightly vain when it came to her looks, but it wasn't something that appeared often and did not affect her social life in any way. Her friends didn't even know she had a vain side.

Fashion was not her forte, but she made sure to take care of her appearance, taking pains to ensure that her eyebrows did not turn too bushy and no nose hair grew too long, regularly pulling them out to the point that some no longer grew back.

Satisfied with what stared back at her in the mirror, Jay turned to look for John, hoping that he was done taking photos of place.

Where John was most likely going to focus on images for his assignment, Jay was going to focus on facts and mixing it with her own knowledge of mythical lore of other places.

When she found him snapping away at piece of painting that absorbed his attention with little complaints, she tapped him on the shoulder.

"You done?" Briefly, Jay looked over his shoulder at his latest shot.

"Yea, almost. Don't tell me you're done already?" John asked her incredulously and Jay responded by rolling her eyes.

"Not everyone spends as much time on something as you, John," she said, laughing as she made her way towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" He called after her, making a move to follow but stopped to snap more shots of a framed piece of woodwork.

Jay shook her head at him in amusement. He was so obsessed with photography that it was just cute.

"You go on with your work. I'm gonna go explore elsewhere for a bit."

"Yea, sure. I'll meet you with the rest later," he replied without looking at her, eyes still trained onto the lens.

Jay left him at the Founder's Hall, walking back towards the town square. Taking the occasional photos on her iPhone as she walked, she is quickly parched by the sun and the amount of time spent on her feet.

Spotting what Ryan introduced as the Mystic Grill on the other side of the square, Jay made her way towards the restaurant, spotting a stray cat lingering in a small alley beside the Grill, its fur dried and coming off in patches in places. It was skinny, but not skinny to the point of skin and bones.

Jay's brow furrowed at the sight, making a mental note to get something for the cat to eat. Pushing open the doors of the Mystic Grill, she stepped inside.

The place was bustling with people and the lively atmosphere was a sudden change from the quiet breeze of winds outside the Grill. Groups of teenagers were gathered together at various tables and at the pool table, their voices filling the place with raucous laughter. There was also the occasional early drinkers already drinking their way to a hangover by the bar, and a few couples whispered quietly to each other intimately at their booths.

Shaking off the apprehension of being in a crowded place in a place she knew nothing of with no one she knew, Jay made her way towards the bar, throat craving for a glass of shake to cool the scratchy feeling gathering there.

As she made a straight line towards the bar, a girl with dark hair and eyes bumped into her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She uttered after a short pause during which she stared at Jay with what seemed to be suspicion and surprise. But Jay failed to read into her stare, thinking that it was nothing but surprise at having bumped into someone randomly.

"Oh, it's alright," Jay waved a hand in front of her carelessly, laughing. "I wasn't really looking at where I was going either."

The girl smiled at her hesitantly. "I've never seen you around here before. Are you new?"

"Technically. I'm just visiting for the weekend." At her reply, the girl squinted her eye at her with confusion and amusement and Jay realized that Mystic Falls isn't really a tourist destination spot. "Oh, I'm from Whitmore College," she added quickly. "Just here for an assignment~" her arms fluffed upwards beside her lightly in what she hoped was a funny gesture.

"Ahh, getting down on the grades, huh?" The girl replied good-naturedly before putting a hand lightly on her arm. "Well, I hope you enjoy your weekend here."

"Thanks, I will."

And with that, the girl turned away to return to her table where a long-haired brunette and a blonde sat waiting for her.

"Who was that?" The blonde quickly asked her friend when she sat down, clearly eager for some gossip on the new face.

A short pause where she seemed to mull over something. "I don't know, Caroline, but…"

"But?" The brunette pressed, eyes urging her to go on.

"_But_, Elena…" she trailed off, eyes following the figure of the Asian girl as she made her way towards the bar where Matt went to take her order. "I just felt something…_weird_, when I bumped into her."

"Weird? Bonnie, what do you mean by weird?" Elena asked, eyes glancing towards the bar where the girl just ordered a drink from Matt.

"I don't know." Bonnie looked back at her friends, a strange and nostalgic look passing over her features. "It was kind of like…bumping into an old acquaintance."

"Acquaintance? Did you know her?" Caroline asked.

Bonnie shot her a look that said '_I don't, duh_,' and Caroline replied with a look of her own, saying '_What? Just asking_.'

"Look, I don't really know, okay," Bonnie said finally, taking a sip from her glass.

"Why can't this town just have normal people for once?" Caroline sighed, eyeing the Asian girl who chatted with Matt after he arrived with her glass of juice. A small frown marred her fair features at the sight.

"Well, rather than worry about this "_weird_" feeling Bonnie had about her, we have bigger problems." Elena sighed, eyes settling onto her two friends as her expression turned serious. "What are we going to do about the Mikaelsons?"

* * *

"So you're just here for the weekend?" The waiter, whose name she learned was Matt, asked as he cleaned the bar counter next to her.

"Yea. Partly to research some stuffs for my class at Whitmore and to see what my friend's hometown is like."

Matt's brow rose in surprise, blue eyes bright as the sky. "What sort of research?"

"About the occult and supernatural," she replied, drinking from her glass before noticing the short pause and the tense way in which Matt looked at her. She swallowed quickly, one hand coming up to wipe the drop of juice that ran down her chin. The other waved frantically about her.

"It's for my occult studies class. According to our professor, Mystic Falls has a long history with witches and whatnot here." She laughed, thinking her research topic must have surprised the male. She supposed not many people actively researched or even studied such topics now…well, at least, not where she is from anyways.

"Huh…" With a tense quietness, he rolled the rag he had been cleaning with into his hand before giving her a quick smile. "Well, I hope your research goes well."

"Oh, wait!" Jay called out to him just as he was about to walk off and he turned around once more to regard her, the initial cheery attitude he greeted her with now diminished.

Jay wondered if she did something that insulted him. She did not recall doing anything of that manner, merely having been herself.

"Can I get a fish and chips as well? But with the fish packed away separately…" she trailed off as he gave her another raise of his brow.

"Uhh, sure." Matt shrugged, finding that it was not his business to ask why she wanted to separate her fish and chips. He quickly walked off with her order, wondering if he had been too quick to assume.

She did say she was here for her Occult Studies class and seemed completely clueless as to what really went on in Mystic Falls.

But for her sake, Matt hoped that she will not dig too deep into things here. It was a bad time for such things.

He passed by Elena, Caroline and Bonnie's table as he worked, giving them a quick greeting as he did so.

"Hey Matt!" Caroline called out to him.

"Yea, what's up?" The rag in his hands was swung over his right shoulder, arms crossing as he stood by their table, glancing down at the three girls.

Caroline spoke up, whilst Elena and Bonnie casted curious looks at her.

"Who is that girl you've been talking with at the counter?" She asked without hesitation.

Matt was hardly surprised. "Ever the gossip girl, aren't you?" he teased.

Caroline merely tilted her head at him, face innocent but serious with her need to know.

Matt sighed, looking around the table before speaking. "Her name's Jay. She's from Whitmore College."

"Whitmore? What is she doing here?" Elena asked. Most people who came to Mystic Falls from Whitmore were previous residents of the town who had family here. And for her entire life, Elena has never seen Jay around before. There were only a few Chinese-Americans living in Mystic Falls, and Jay was certainly not one of them.

"Apparently, she's here doing research for her Occult Studies class." Here, Matt looked at Bonnie, aware that her grandmother used to teach that class.

Bonnie straightened up at the news. "Really?" With a curious gaze, she looked over to the counter, where Jay now sat playing with her iPhone.

Caroline and Elena exchanged looks which did not go unnoticed by Matt.

"I know. I was suspicious at first but honestly, she seems pretty cool."

"Oh, so just when the Mikaelsons make their grand appearance a new girl which Bonnie is getting a weird feeling from just appears in Mystic Falls, of all places, to do her Occult Studies research?" Sarcasm dripped from Caroline's voice, her wide eyes looking around at her friends. She can't be the only one that thought this is more than coincidence.

"Well, we can't just go suspecting a person just because of things outside their control." Elena said rationally. "She may really just be here for her research." She shrugged her shoulders lightly, brown eyes attempting to convince Bonnie and Matt to join her side of the debate.

Matt nodded in agreement at her, but Bonnie had doubts. "I don't know. That feeling was so weird though."

"We heard it the first time." Caroline said in exasperation, determined to win this battle about the intentions and origins of this so-called Jay.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a waitress bringing Jay her order of chips and packed fish. Jay slowly began eating her chips whilst peeling away the fried layering off the fish.

Caroline's sharp eyes took all this in minute detail. "Why is she separating the skin off the fish?" She whispered quietly, despite knowing that the current topic of their conversation could not possibly hear over the noise resonating around the restaurant.

"Why don't you go ask her?" Matt suggested in a joking manner, clearly amused by her unforgivable suspicions of the girl. He had been suspicious too at first, but it lasted for less than a minute before it was dispelled by the way the girl talked and acted. There was no way she had evil intentions like most of the other people coming into Mystic Falls.

Both Elena and Bonnie raised the universal sign of saying one had no information or knowledge before Elena tried to pull their attention back to their previous topic.

"I think we have bigger problems to handle…like the Mikaelsons?"

* * *

Jay left the Mystic Grill half an hour later, the fish meat with its outer layering meticulously removed packed in a box.

She peeked into the alleyway, pleased to see that the stray cat from before was still there, resting beside a pile of unwanted boxes. Its ears perked and head raised when Jay approached slowly. The telltale signs of caution and alert entered its form before it quickly got onto its feet and moved several paces away from her.

Jay stopped and slowly crouched down, opening the box in her hand and revealing its contents. The cat still made no move to approach her and neither did its tense form relax.

Jay clucked her tongue at the cat quietly in encouragement, placing the box nearby where the cat was resting before her arrival. She backed up again, leaving a good distance between her and the cat.

It was a while, longer than what most people would wait, before the cat finally but tentatively approached the box, sniffing at its contents before it began eating.

Jay smiled, enjoying the way the cat gulfed down the white meat, clearly indicating at its hunger. A part of her was happy that she was able to ease some of its hunger, but another part of her felt sad that she will not be here long enough to feed it back to a healthy weight.

She sighed, watching the cat eat as she contemplated what she should do next. John still had yet to call her, and there was still a little while till they had to meet up with Ryan.

"That's awfully nice of you."

Jay shrieked.

The cat abandoned the food and fled at the sound.

Heart pounding from the shock and fright, Jay whirled around to a stand to find a tall male standing several paces behind her. He had short brown hair that tussled among themselves and deep brown eyes. His clothing was casual, but had a touch of wealth to it that Jay imagined what modern aristocrats would wear. It made her slightly self-conscious of her cheap black open shoulder top and denim shorts.

The stranger was significantly taller than her small stature. He had his hands in his coat pocket, and a wince of sorts pulled at his features. Her scream must have been the cause.

Placing a hand over her heart, Jay's shoulders sagged as the initial fright and shock slowly left her system. "Sorry. You scared me."

"Sorry about that." He spoke, an accent lacing his voice which Jay pinpointed to be British. Or what she thought is British. She wasn't one of the best people to ask about accents.

"No, it's alright." She gave a small smile, turning around to look back at the abandoned box.

"Too bad it ran away." He smiled apologetically at her, and Jay listed him in her head as one of the good-looking guys.

"It'll probably come back later. Cats usually do that." She turned back around to face him, not failing to notice that he had taken a few steps closer to her.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Jay asked the stranger uncertainly, wondering why he was talking to her.

He laughed a laugh that was easy to the ears with just a hint of mischief. "I just saw you crouching about an alleyway, of all places, and was wondering what you were doing."

Jay felt a touch of heat to her cheeks, knowing the image she must have displayed crouching around like that. It was hardly ladylike, and where she was from, it was usually considered bad manners for a person to crouch on the ground, more so when a girl was doing it.

"I'm Kol." He introduced himself, sticking a hand out for her to take.

"Oh, I'm Jay," she said as she took his hand, shaking it.

"Jay, huh?" He repeated her name and Jay thought she quite liked the way it sounded with his voice, despite being a stranger and all. She can't deny that he was handsome.

A nervous laugh escaped her. "Yea." A silence she found awkward quickly fell around them, although the male before her did not seem effected by it, merely looking at her with a mischievous smile on his lips and dark eyes. Jay despaired at her incompetence at making good conversation with people.

"So…nothing I can help you with?" she asked stupidly, swinging back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Kol laughed heartily, ambling towards her as he spoke. "No, actually. There is something you can help me with."

Jay's brow shot up in surprise and curiosity, wondering what she can possibly help this stranger with. But before she could ask, she was captured by his gaze, instantly enamored by the deep color of his eyes, the ringlet of golden strips transfixing her, hypnotizing her into a state of relaxation that bordered on detachment.

"You will not scream. You will obey my orders."

"Yes."

Somewhere in a part of Jay, she was aware of answering the man's commands and yet, she did not feel the need to protest against such violating words. In fact, her whole body felt compelled to listen to his commands.

Kol smirked at her, before telling her to walk into the alleyway. She did as she was told, trampling over the abandoned box of fish as she made her way further into the alley. She stopped behind a large green dumpster that hid her and Kol from peering eyes that might look into the alley.

Trickles of apprehension and fear started seeping into her heart, and yet Jay could not voice all of these into a scream that would attract attention to aid her. She had no control over what her body was doing despite knowing that something is really wrong and the fear was starting to get to her.

Who the hell is he? And why does he have such powers over her?

Jay felt a drop of something warm sliding down her cheek, and realized she was crying. A quiet sob left her, but no scream escaped her, despite the attempts of her mind and heart.

"Shh~" He hushed her, one large hand coming up to wipe the lone tear that tracked slowly down her cheek. "You don't have to cry."

His voice only served to bring more tears from her, hardly comforting with its mock sympathy.

"What do you want with me?" Jay choked out, the scream she had been desperately trying to push out never making its way pass her throat. The handsome male she first saw is now replaced with someone of danger.

None of this was natural.

And then it dawned on her enslaved body and mind that he was not of the natural…was he?

But before the revelation could prompt more questions and doubts within her, Kol spoke.

"You will not resist." He said simply. "And as for your question…" Kol's eyes travelled upwards as if he was thinking hard about his answer, but that was hardly the case. His posture, voice and lips expressed nothing more than tease and mock.

"I just need a little bit of blood. Just a little bit." He smiled, but there was no mirth or joy in his smile. There was only horror with the red that spread across his eyes, fear with the tracks of black that engraved themselves around what used to be fair cheeks and terror with the white fangs that protruded from what used to be a handsome mouth.

Despite the absolute horror, fear and terror that assaulted Jay at the sight that only doubled when she felt the sinking of something sharp and painful in her neck, she did not scream. She did not resist.

She couldn't.

She could feel the blood in her body leaving her, quickly being drained from her by this hungry predator.

Only one word kept repeating in her hazed and dulled mind: vampire.

The strength in her knees gave way, but she did not fall to the ground. Iron-like arms wound around her waist and shoulders, keeping her up.

She lamented at the terrifying and lackluster way she was going to die. Far away from home in a foreign land in the arms of not family and friends, but a vampire.

Terrifying, but perhaps not so lackluster after all. How many people can say they died at the hands of a vampire?

But then again, dead men told no tales.

Just as dark spots began to enter her vision, Jay felt herself crumpling to the ground.

She heard a snarl not far from where she lay on the hard ground.

"Bloody hell, Elijah!"

Arms cradled her, and something pressed against her lips. A metallic taste entered her mouth and Jay choked at the unwanted taste and substance. But the substance continued flowing into her, its source pressed firm against her mouth.

"I'm hardly surprised. Just out of the coffin and already causing trouble."

A chiding voice resounded above her. The substance stopped invading her.

Slowly, her vision returned to her as the pain by her neck subsided to nothing.

She found herself cradled in the arms of a man in a suit. Kol stood not far away, face returned to its fair state. The image of nightmares was no longer there.

Just the image of an angry person: not a vampire.

The man holding her turned to look down at her, a calloused hand coming up to her cheeks, firmly but gently holding her face in place and eyes towards him.

"You will not remember any of this. You will go back to what you were doing before."

A feeling of relaxation and detachment entered Jay, washing away the fear and dulled lingering of shock away from her weakened body. She was placed upright against the wall, and the sensation of crisp suit material against her skin left her.

Her eyes closed in rest.

When Jay came to, she looked around her blearily, eyes furrowing and wondering why she was sitting in an alleyway, behind a dumpster.

Her nose scrunched up at the faint scent of raw rotting food that came from the dumpster.

She stood up and dusted herself off, spotting the box of fish she had packed for the stray cat laying opened and tipped, its contents falling out.

She frowned.

Where did the cat go?

* * *

**I'm a review whore. I tend to drop or continue stories or update chapters depending on the amount of reviews received haha**

**So if you enjoyed this story, please do drop a line or two with the review box below :) **

**I'm completely revising the idea I had for Eastern Sun In The Western Sky, and did the idea of songsters and songstresses away for I felt that that particular bit might have resulted in that story's unpopularity :S I don't know the real cause, to be honest, but this is the last chance I am giving to writing a Kol Mikaelson story and if this one flops in popularity too…well, guess I should just stick to my DRR and Prince of Tennis stories OTL **

**And Jay is Asian. South East Asian from Malaysia to be exact. That might be another reason why people might not have liked ESITWS (lol so long) since the TVD community is mostly dominated by people from the West I think…I don't know, really haha But I always figured if Asians can enjoy Caucasian characters, why not the other way around too? (*w*) **

**But I really do want to explore Asian culture and myths in a TVD story, something not done or seen yet in any of the fanfics I have seen, and I really do hope people want to give that a chance too. I can't say I'm a fantastic writer, but I am always looking to improve and appreciate each and every review and tips I receive. **

**And if Jay as an Asian really does bother some people, you're free to imagine her as a Caucasian born Malaysian, really hahaha all stories are up to the reader's imagination when all is said and done :) **

**As I might also be treading a fine line when writing about the cultures, traditions and religious beliefs of others, I hope I will not offend anyone. If I write anything that is wrong or contrary, please do let me know and I will correct it. I do not mean to offend anyone when writing my stories, and only wish to explore more about different cultures and integrate what is happening in the real world into my stories. Doing this also helps expand my own knowledge of cultures around the world, as I tend to research a bit before writing; but the internet is hardly accurate, so please do correct me if I ever wrote anything different.**

**So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and if you wish to see more, please do review, favorite, follow and alert! :3 And review!**


	2. Déjà Vu

**Author's Note: Some things cropped up (okay, a lot of things) when I was writing this chapter so update was slower than I planned :S suddenly had a friend crashing at my place for a whole week so was busy accommodating and keeping my guilty pleasure a secret hurrhurrr and school's being mean.**

**This story might move a bit slow, which I hope you guys won't mind. I want to take a bit of time introducing Jay as a person, as well as the other characters and fleshing out each character of TVD and their relation to Jay haha **

**Jay's character will be revealed and fleshed out as the story progresses; so far I have kept things superficial in relation to the start of the story and how Jay is not acquainted with the other characters yet. I hope to make Jay a more complex character in the long-run with base human tendencies, as unappealing as it is haha :3 **

**And thank you to all who favorite and alerted, and especially to the ones who took the time to drop a review! This story is certainly doing better than Eastern Sun In The Western Sky did in the first chapter, and I only hope more people will enjoy it as the story progresses! **

**Review Response Time!**

**Kellyxo- haha I'm glad you like her being an Asian! I'm honestly relieved to hear that :)**

**Royalrabbit- thank you! I hope I can keep delivering good chapters which you all will enjoy! :3**

**Guest- Thank you! I don't particularly like Elena, but I won't butcher her character just because of that haha I have seen a lot of stories which warped Elena and her two sidekicks into annoying characters and I always found that extremely OOC. I hope to avoid that here ^_^ Haha if you wish to picture Jay like Arden Cho, feel free to! Arden Cho has more Korean features though, and not enough of the baby fat I wanted Jay to have haha I'm searching for a good picture that can represent Jay and will post it when I do :3 currently, all I have is the drawn image in the story's image haha**

**Lauren Lydia Jane Mikaelson- thank you! I am glad you enjoyed the start, and I hope you will enjoy the chapters to come too!**

**TS13- thank you! I will keep trying to produce long chapters every time! And also try to make sure it is just as good haha**

**ShiloCoulter- thank you for your keen interest XD update has now been delivered! **

**Ase4ever- thank you for reviewing again! I was a bit sad about dropping Eastern Sun too but not many people seemed to enjoy it :S I hope the same thing won't happen here. And I'm glad you liked Jay's character so far! I haven't shown a lot of her character yet and have kept things mostly on the surface so far :3 **

**Jennifer- I'm glad you like my story! Although…I wasn't sure if it was a typo on your part or something, but Jay is actually Asian haha not Caucasian, although you are free to imagine her as one, that has been born overseas XD**

* * *

The doors flew open, a loud sound reverberating through the halls the moment they met with the wall.

Kol stalked into the mansion his elder brother Klaus has painstakingly designed and commissioned for their family. But really, who gives a crap? Kol can appreciate the beauty of the design and architecture, but this romantic idea Klaus has of them living together as a functional family will never come to pass. They may be able to stay under the same roof but things will never go back to the way they were before they were stabbed in the heart by their own flesh and blood. Things had changed for them as a family ever since, no matter how much Elijah wishes otherwise.

Behind him, said elder brother followed, gently closing the doors Kol had treated with such violence. Elijah, known as a noble and honorable vampire, had quickly and efficiently went out after his brother when he discovered Kol had left their mansion earlier on. Elijah was quick to know what his baby brother's intention had been and decided to quickly interfere before he ruined the unofficial peace treaty the Mikaelson family had with the town mayor and its residents.

The younger of the two fumed, angry and annoyed that he had been interrupted halfway through his lunch. It's not as if anyone here would miss the girl. Kol had chosen her mainly because he knew that the girl was not from these parts.

Humans all have a scent that was distinctive to each individual only, a scent that will always be there no matter how much scented soap you scrubbed on or how much perfume you sprayed.

And her scent had been distinctly different from those born here in the land of the free.

It was a scent that reminded him of the woods and something else that he could not pinpoint. It wasn't something he had paid attention to as he drank her blood, for he did not think her to live after being done; after over a century in that blasted coffin, courtesy of his equally blasted brother, he could care less about being inconspicuous and had just wanted to feed until every last drop was emptied from the cup, leaving nothing but cubes of bones clinking around in an empty vessel. That was if Elijah had not interfered.

"If our family is to embrace this town and hope to live here peacefully, we cannot go about feeding from its people as if they were cattle."

Ah, Kol had nearly forgotten about Elijah being there with him as he lost himself in his mental fury.

"It's just one meal. And it is the least I deserved after being locked in that box for over a century. Have you no love for your baby brother?" Kol asked Elijah, voice twined with that of innocent disappointment and eyes round as a cherub's baby eyes.

Elijah smiled, or rather, made something akin to a mix of a smirk and a scoff, as he tucked his hands in his pockets, quietly ambling towards Kol.

"Of course I do. But you don't take cookies out of the jar without permission." With a light tap on his shoulder, Elijah walked away, leaving Kol rolling his eyes at his back.

"It's not as if anyone would miss her!" Kol called out towards Elijah's back but the older of the two did not look back, instead continued making his way up the stairs. He was certain Elijah was aware that her scent was not from these parts.

"Her family in her motherland would." Elijah's voice reverberated back towards Kol from above the stairs, before his figure disappeared.

Figures.

Leave it to Elijah to think all the way to unknown families of his victims. Kol didn't think that far. The only thing her family would probably only know is that she either got murdered by a serial killer or by an animal. They would grieve and then be over it after a couple of months. Or maybe years.

Not his problem.

Kol retreated to the living room where he lounged across the couch, the sleek HDTV displaying some sort of reality TV show. He couldn't be bothered to find out what it was. Things had changed a lot since the time he had been daggered; some for the better and some for the worst. One of the worst seems to be that people's capacity for creating good entertainment has devolved.

His fingers ran across the remote, remaining on each channel for less than a few seconds before he switched to another. He finally stopped on a channel that was running a documentary on vampire bats, figuring it was better than the other shows going on.

The house was silent, save for the occasional sounds from the second floor that reached Kol's sharp hearing. Elijah was pretty much silent in whatever he does, so the sounds must have been from his mother, Esther Mikaelson. She was planning a ball, and invitations have already been sent. Preparations are still being done for the ball, and the phone in his mother's study constantly rang: people from the catering service, the tailors, the beauticians, the florists etc.

There was still some time till the actual date of the ball but Esther had not failed to regularly remind Kol and his siblings that they needed to get fitted before the ball. Kol still had the invitation handed to him by his mother to give to someone else; apparently, she was hoping that all of her children would bring somebody to the ball.

That was going to be a bit of a problem, especially for Finn and Kol, who had just awoken not too long ago from their slumber. They have no one here that they are acquainted with, unlike Rebekah who has her silly high school friends and Klaus and his…well, whoever that has the misfortune of catching his attention. Elijah will probably have no problem inviting anyone over, if he invites anyone that is. Kol is more than confident with his ability to find a date easily, but a part of him is more than amused at the thought of Finn attempting to find a date. That brother of his is stiffer than a pole, and he had been neutralized for the better part of the ages. In any case, Kol doubts that Finn will even attempt to find a date…or perhaps he will, if just to please their mother. He never really understood that estranged brother of his.

As the documentary displayed scenes of vampire bats feeding, Kol's thoughts were inevitably drawn to the most recent event in his life since his awakening. He had been on lockdown in the house when he first awoke, as they all tried to decide what to do with Klaus and then take in the fact that their mother is back from the dead. But of course, that has been settled by their mother who has decided that she wants them to be a whole family again. Then there was that bit of time where Rebekah, Elijah and a hesitant Klaus brought their outdated family members up to date on the world and its changes. So his first real live feed since awakening had been that girl. He had had to live off blood bags, bloody blood bags of all things, for his first meal and several days of meals following his awakening. One can easily imagine then the anticipation and vigor with which Kol went at on his first feed; the girl certainly would not have lived if Elijah hadn't been there.

Kol had tasted the blood of many types of people, from Europe to America and all the way to Africa even. He had tasted the occasional Oriental blood once in a while; he had never traversed far to the Eastern part of the world, so those that had been unfortunate to come across him were mainly merchants or politicians. Her blood had not been much different than that of those who had hailed from the East, but there was something a bit different to the taste of her blood, much like her scent.

There was a hint of something saccharine that reminded him of peaches, something…innocent and pure. Virgin blood, definitely. Mixed with a little of something else; something that eludes him.

It was rare that he tasted blood like that, and Kol made a reminder to seek her out again when hunger once again raised its head. There was something certainly different about her blood, much like how witch blood and warlock blood tasted different from ordinary humans.

Was she a witch then?

Kol doubted it. Instincts told him she was no witch, and he was **very** familiar with witches. A slight hint of curiosity arose within him at these thoughts and musings, and Kol wondered where she was from. She's not from America or Europe. China perhaps? She looked Chinese, though her eyes were wider than what he imagined those hailing from that ancient country would have. Maybe she was a mix.

Her blood had tasted slightly similar to this fat Chinese merchant he fed from ages ago, but it was certainly different.

Perhaps he is a little grateful that Elijah had stopped him from draining her in his feeding frenzy; it had been a while since he fed on something fresh. And as expected of his amazing luck, he struck gold on someone with rare blood. There is now something for him to look forward to in this mundane town.

Handsome, gifted and lucky; he is one amazing vampire, in his humble opinion.

He looked at the clock hanging on the wall in the room.

He'll just give it a couple of hours and then head back out to find his next meal, and hopefully it will be that girl –what was her name again? Jay, was it? – that will have the good fortune of meeting him again. Hopefully, Elijah won't be trailing after him this time.

* * *

_~Scent of Joss Sticks, Smell of Blood~_

_Chapter 2: Déjà Vu_

* * *

Jay stumbled out of the car after Clementine. John had called dibs on the front seat; so though she had enjoyed a couple of hours travelling from Whitmore to Mystic Falls sitting at the front of the car, Jay had to squeeze into the back with Clementine and Cecilie this time. It wasn't really that much of a squeeze, but Cecilie had this bad habit of putting her legs up on the seat which took up a lot of space. They had asked her to put her legs down but she would unconsciously bring them up again after several moments so they gave up telling her to put it down.

"The Mystic Grill? Isn't there any other place to eat?" Cecilie groaned. "We already ate here for lunch!"

"Late lunch," Clementine added, shutting the car door after Jay got out.

"The two of you ate here. Me and Jay hasn't tried it yet," John said.

Jay scratched her cheeks guiltily. "Actually…"

"Don't tell me you ate without me?!" John cried, a look of betrayal crossing his face dramatically.

"Oh, don't be a drama queen," Jay slapped John on the arm. "I only went in to get a drink…and fish and chips. I didn't eat the fish though."

"Why didn't you eat the fish?" Ryan asked incredulously. He loved the fish in fish and chips. "I know you're partly vegetarian and all but that's a waste."

"I fed the fish to a stray cat I found."

"Aww, Jay, you're so kind~!" Clementine sang, draping her long arms around the other girl.

"I would have eaten the fish." Ryan said as he watched the road for cars before crossing the street towards the Grill.

"So would I." Cecilie agreed.

"I would have eaten half the fish and gave the other half to a beggar," John added.

Jay laughed shortly but didn't bother to argue with them. She was used to this. They always had the same reaction whenever she split some of her food to any animals she came across, or purposely bought food just to feed those animals.

Jay ate meat but was working her way towards being a vegetarian. She grew up eating meat for far too long to suddenly cut it off from her diet immediately but as awareness of the meat industry grew, Jay also began making changes to her choice of food and where she bought her produce. She tried to avoid meat to the best of her abilities, or at least choose meals that had less meat in them.

She used to hate vegetables. But as she got used to eating them, she found she actually quite liked eating them although she had a tendency to go overboard with the dressings on her salad.

The bell chimed as Ryan opened the door and stepped into the establishment. The place was even more crowded than it had been earlier in the day. People off from a hard day's work now drank their worries and stress away and young adults had doubled in numbers, clearly intending to get the most out of the still early Friday night.

The waiter Jay met earlier noticed them at the entrance and his face instantly lit up in recognition. Jay had been self-absorbed enough to think that it was because of her until he called out the name that had been waiting to roll off his tongue.

"Ryan!"

"Matt!"

The two clapped each other on the back like brothers reunited, and Jay was very glad she didn't greet the waiter first. She would have looked like an idiot.

"You're back!" Matt laughed enthusiastically at Ryan, head shaking in slight disbelief at the sight of his friend.

"Of course I am. I love this town!"

"I thought you said it was boring?" Cecilie drawled from beside the male.

"Boring, but that does not mean I don't love it!" Ryan countered quickly.

It was then Matt noticed Jay standing slightly to the back and his eyes lit in recognition again.

"Jay?" Matt blinked rapidly before looking over at Ryan who looked back and forth between Jay and Matt.

"You two know each other?" Ryan asked curiously.

"We met when I came here earlier for a drink," Jay answered, shooting a smile at Matt.

"I didn't know you two knew each other," Matt's arms crossed before him as he regarded Ryan and the group of mainly strangers around him.

"We go to Whitmore together, all of us," Ryan gestured to their group of five. "Guys, this is Matt. I know him from high school."

"We used to play football together," Matt added, the joy of seeing his old friend and senior again clearly showing on his face.

"Nice to meet you Matt! I'm Clementine," the strawberry blonde of their group introduced herself eagerly.

"Call me John," their Korean friend said as he extended a hand out for Matt to shake.

"Cecilie." And that was all she said.

"Wow, I didn't think a whole group of you guys were here when you said assignment," Matt said in amusement as his eyes passed over the new faces and stopped on Jay.

Jay shrugged with a grin. "The ones on assignment are just me and John, really. Ryan's our driver and these two are just tagging along."

"Okay," Matt said with a laugh, turning around and gesturing for them to follow him. "Come on, I'll show you guys to a table."

Matt led them to a booth table, and the five of them squeezed in with the guys on one side and the girls on the other.

"I gotta get back to work but call me once you have decided on your orders."

"Sure, thanks bud," Ryan nodded his head at Matt who returned to the kitchen to bring the orders out.

"He's so cute!" Clementine squealed as soon as Matt was out of hearing range.

"Hey, hey! He's off limits!" Ryan lightly whacked Clementine's hand with the restaurant menu.

"Oh, you have the hots for him?" Cecilie asked with a smirk, arms crossed and settled into her place between Clementine and Jay.

"No, but I ain't gonna let a good guy like Matt fall into the clutches of people like you!"

Jay laughed, turning her body to the side so that her legs rested outside the confining space of the booth where Ryan's longer legs constantly kicked her unconsciously.

"Don't worry Ryan. He's a nice guy but not my type." Jay said lightly as the menu was passed to her from John.

"Really? What's your type then?" Clementine asked, the curiosity and excitement evident on her face. She really wanted to know.

"Hmmm~" Jay pondered on her answer as she looked over the menu. Her eyes unconsciously came up to follow the sound of the restaurant door bell chiming, where a tall male had just entered.

"I've never really thought about it before but I just know he's not my type."

"Come on, there must be something!" Clementine urged, hand reaching over Cecilie and poking Jay on the shoulder.

"Bet you're one of those masochistic ones that goes for the sadists." John said this with such a serious face that Jay could not help bursting out in laughter as her eyes ran down the length of the menu. Finally deciding on what she wanted for dinner, she closed the menu with a _slap_ and passed it to Cecilie who took it from her with a grumble.

"Maybe I am," Jay replied back in jest.

She didn't know what her type of guy was to be honest. Maybe it was a nice guy like Matt but maybe it wasn't. She never had a boyfriend before so she wouldn't know. Dating wasn't something she did back in her country for she was hardly one of the more appealing girls. It wasn't until a year before her high school graduation that Jay finally hit the maturity to take better care of her looks.

Growing up under the influence of her elder brother had hardly been positive on her feminine side. She never took care of her appearance, and constantly told herself that what mattered was the inside. And what was inside **did** matter, of course. But it was rare of people to not judge someone by their looks first. And so the time leading up to her high school graduation, Jay changed the attitude in which she looked after herself. Her parents had been pleased with what she was doing, saying that even though it was true that what mattered was the heart of the person, it was also considered a polite gesture to present oneself nicely in a working environment. And considering the fact that they are hoping either Jay or her brother will take over their company one day, they had been overjoyed to find that at least one of their children was finally starting to look after their appearance. And that was when her vain side started to make itself known to her.

Matt had come over to take their orders, and Jay got herself a grilled chicken salad along with a mocktail. Ryan and John both got beers; there was this ongoing thing between them where Ryan constantly tried to out-drink John, to no avail. According to John, the Koreans were notorious for their drinking although Jay could not be too sure herself since she hardly knew any Koreans before John. Clementine and Cecilie ordered strawberry and chocolate milkshake respectively, in which they mixed a little bit of beer into it. Jay never understood why they did that.

They passed the time talking about Mystic Falls and Ryan's life here before he moved to Whitmore for his studies, about what Clementine and Cecilie did for the better part of the day and whether Jay and John found any good info that they were going to use for their assignment.

And during this whole time, Jay's eyes kept flickering to the bar where the tall male she spied walking into the restaurant sat alone, drinking a glass of whiskey.

Cecilie nudged Jay in her side, blonde head bobbing lightly in the male's direction. "Checking out hot stuffs over there?"

Jay felt a track of heat run across her cheeks, but she grinned nonetheless. "Was I that obvious?"

"Who are you guys talking about? Who?!" Clementine quickly butted in, eyes squinting in the direction Cecilie pointed to. John and Ryan both turned in their seats to look as well.

"Never seen that guy here before," Ryan mentioned as he tried to put a name to the face but came up with none.

"He's hot~" Clementine wagged her brows.

"He's okay," John said.

"No one asked you!" Cecilie rolled her eyes at John, and Jay patted his hand to console him.

Matt came by with their orders not long after, placing their dinners before each of them

"Hey, Matt," Ryan nodded his head to the direction of the bar. "See that dude over there in that black coat, drinking by himself?"

Matt turned around to look, spotting the described male not long after. "Yea, why?"

"You know who he is?"

Matt stared at the male for a moment longer but shook his head at the end. "Nope, never seen him before."

"Aww, guess we'll just have to go old school and flirt our way to a name!" Clementine winked at Jay, causing the girl to give her a ridiculous look in response.

"I'm not going to go and flirt!" She protested quickly.

"You guys interested in him?" Matt laughed, shaking his head.

"Jay is," John said, a piece of fry hanging from his lips.

"I just thought that he's good-looking, that's all!" Exasperated, Jay began eating her grilled chicken salad as she tried to ignore the people around her. She stabbed her fork into the chicken meat furiously, very much unlike the kindness she always showed animals.

"Sure, sure," Matt laughed, blues eye lighting up in mirth. "I'll let you know if I find out his name." He left, dodging Jay's hand which had shot out in an attempt to hit him on the arm, voice echoing back towards their table alongside the mirage of other voices.

Involuntarily, Jay's eyes flickered to the male by the bar again, only to freeze when her eyes met his. Her eyes quickly went back to her salad, lips furiously drinking from her blue striped straw.

Aww shit, did she just get caught checking him out?

Hesitantly, she brought her eyes back towards his general direction, instantly feeling the slight jump of her heart when she saw that he was still looking at her, and even smiling at her.

She pursed her lips to keep the smile from growing, and shyly dodged her head back down and away from his gaze.

"Why is your face red?" John asked, black eyes focused on her suspiciously.

"No reason. Isn't it kinda hot in here?" She faked cooling herself by fanning the top of her shirt.

"I feel fine," Ryan said through a mouthful of burger.

"Well, I'm feeling extremely stuffy between the two of you," Cecilie grumbled, edging around between Jay and Clementine in an attempt to make herself comfortable.

"Hey Jay, that hot guy from earlier is totally checking you out," Clementine reached over and rapidly slapped her on the shoulder to emphasize her point. Her blue eyes never once left the figure of the male, who Jay assumed is still looking at her if the extreme way Clementine's grin exploded on her face was any indication. Jay dared not turn around to look.

"Clementine, it's rude to stare at people…" Jay bit out quietly, fingers threading through her hair in an attempt to inconspicuously hide her face behind a curtain of hair.

Ryan looked over his shoulder to see that the male was indeed looking over at their table. He turned back around with a blank stare. "I don't like the way he's smirking as if he's the king of the world."

"Pssh, jealous cause you're not getting any attention?" Cecilie snapped two fingers in front of Ryan's face.

"As if I need attention from you guys!" Ryan retorted before downing the last gulps of his beer.

The conversation turned onto Ryan and his abilities at picking up girls instead, and Jay felt slightly relieved that the focus was no longer on her again. And yet her eyes could not resist the pull to just look over towards the bar once more.

She did not know what she was expecting to find or exactly what she wanted to find. But Jay could not help the slight disappointment in her heart when she saw that the male was no longer looking their way and was in fact getting ready to leave.

Slowing the disappointment, Jay chose to turn her attention back to her friends and enjoy her time here with them instead of wondering about a mysterious handsome stranger who she is likely not going to meet again. Rare were the times she received attention from the opposite sex, and this has perhaps made her too eager to jump and think into interactions with men too much.

Which was absolutely silly, and she mentally berated herself for it.

They will be returning to Whitmore on Sunday, so even if she did get to know anyone here, it will be for naught, in any case.

Inexperienced and single in a new country; Jay had a lot of opportunities, and she need not fret over one guy who deigned her worthy of one gaze from him.

With that mantra in mind, she pushed all thoughts of the dark eyes of the stranger by the bar to the back of her mind, and poured her entire presence into the now with her friends.

By the time they decided to leave the Mystic Grill, it was late and most of the patrons have already cleared out, with only a few more lonely drinkers still drinking their lonely hearts to sleep. A few couples still remained, whispering sweet nothings to each other. They were the only large group left and with their leave, most of the remaining noise in the restaurant goes with them.

Ryan bade Matt goodbye with promises of catching up soon before heading to the exit. The rest followed after him but Jay lingered slightly back.

"I'm gonna go use the restroom first."

"Alright. We'll wait for you at the car," Ryan told her before all four of them disappeared beyond the establishment door.

Emerging from the restroom later, Jay smiled and waved goodbye to Matt who gave her a quick but cheerful farewell.

She pushed open the doors, eyes focused on her hands pulling the hem of her shirt straight and the bell signaling her exit with its chime.

Cool winds caressed her face when she stepped outside. Spotting Ryan's car on the parked on the other side of the street, she made her way over but paused when she passed by the alley where she found the stray cat earlier in the day.

The cat was there once more, it's fur dry and patchy but looking slightly more energetic than previously. But what caused Jay to pause was the man crouched by the cat and scratching it by the back of its ear.

It was the same stranger by the bar with the dark eyes and coat.

The man noticed her presence and looked up at her from where he crouched, but his fingers continued scratching along the ears of the cat.

The cat purred against his large hands in bliss.

Jay had not thought to stop and chat with the male, merely pausing momentarily to look at the cat. She had not expected the man to take note of her presence nor bother to talk with her.

"Quite the little attention seeker, isn't she?"

His voice was British, or what she thought was British. She wasn't the greatest when it came to accents.

Jay smiled at the sight of the cat with its eyes closed in bliss, neck craning to push its small head against the heaven-giving fingers of the stranger.

"I just fed this very same cat earlier today," Jay said as she turned her body to face the two figures in the alleyway, eyes flickering quickly towards Ryan's car in the slight distance.

"Did you?" He said, eyes lighting up in surprise and what seemed to be amazement as he stopped his ministrations and stood up. He brushed his hands off against the back of his pants and Jay mentally noted his height, feeling slightly impressed and intimidated with how he can easily tower over her short figure.

Most men in her country were hardly tall, and the ones that were had been tall and thin, fitting into the category of skin and bones. But the stranger before her clearly had an athletic cut to his form, despite being garbed in a dark coat that enveloped him from shoulder to thighs.

"It still looks thoroughly famished."

Jay sighed, taking several steps to kneel before the cat which has warmed up to human presence significantly compared to when she first found it. She rubbed her knuckles on the area above and between its green eyes.

"Yea…it didn't finish the fish I gave it for some reason."

She no longer saw the abandoned box of fish in the alley. Someone must have cleaned it up.

"It seems to come here often. You can always come back to feed it."

Jay looked up at him beside her, his dark eyes shadowed by the darkness of the alley. Her nose scrunched in disappointment and she shook her head.

"I won't be here long enough to feed it properly. I leave Mystic Falls on Sunday."

His brows rose and his head tilted as he continued to look down at her. Lightly mussed brown hair waved in the soft winds that blew. "You don't live in Mystic Falls?"

"Nope. I study at Whitmore College."

"Well, that's too bad for this little minx then." He lightly nudged the cat in its side with his foot but elicited no response from the feline which was too absorbed in Jay's treatment of its forehead.

Giving one last pat on its head, Jay stood up. "I really wish someone would take it in though."

"Jay!"

She heard Ryan's voice calling her from beyond the alley, and she turned towards the source reflexively.

"Jay, huh?"

She back turned around to find the male with a charming smile with just a dash of mischief playing on his lips.

Unconsciously, Jay bit her lips and scratched the back of her neck. "Yea, that's my nickname."

Laughing, she rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Anyways, I really have to go. My friends are waiting for me."

"Right. Sorry for keeping you." His accented voice took on an apologetic tone and Jay wondered why he was so sincere.

"No, it's alright. It was my own fault," she laughed with a roll of her eyes. "I was the one who stopped to stare in the first place. Completely rude and unexpected of me, by the way," she quickly added at the end.

His shoulders raised and fell with a light laughter and then his hand extended towards her.

"Kol Mikaelson."

Eyes flickering to his hand before moving back to look at the man in his dark eyes, Jay took his hand.

"Jay."

She was about to shake his hand but was taken by surprise when his other hand suddenly came up to envelop her extended wrist and then lightly, just lightly, he brought her hands to his lips.

There was a soft sensation of something soft but chapped gliding over the skin of her knuckles, and Jay's heart leapt at the interaction: it was the first time someone ever kissed her on her hand and it made the girl within her flutter.

And though it was a silly notion, for she hardly knew him and she left Mystic Falls soon, she kind of wished she would see him again.

"Jay, huh?" He repeated again, as if her name was something strange and foreign which he had to experience repeatedly to familiarize with.

She laughed again and slowly walked backwards out of the alley.

"Sounds so weird when you keep saying it."

A smirk tugged at his lips.

Jay ran towards Ryan's car, meeting him halfway on the relatively empty road.

She left the alley with the man's presence in her mind: Kol Mikaelson.

The very same Kol Mikaelson who still remained in the alley after she left looked down at the cat in the alley with him.

It had long since tire of their attention towards it and now lounged lazily by the same dumpster where he attempted to drain the girl just hours before.

He raised his foot and brought it down, stopping just around the area above the head of the cat with dry and patchy fur.

He looked down at the sight of his large booted foot and the sight of the cat cleaning its body just beneath it, ignoring the large limb and the possibility of it coming down on its tiny head; the cat was obviously assuming that after a few moments of kind scratching, Kol was a human that could be trusted.

But Kol wasn't a human.

And he wasn't kind.

He wasn't a kind human like that girl Jay had been.

"This is your lucky day little minx." Kol said, eyes peering down at the grey cat which stopped momentarily in its ministrations to turn piercing green eyes up at Kol. He dropped his foot back to the ground.

"I'm in a good mood now."

The cat shook its head of invisible dust and went back to cleaning its body.

Its nimble body paused for a moment, head halfway bent over its exposed stomach. Then it went back to cleaning again, pink tongue darting out and running along its dry fur.

The presence standing before it was gone.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_It's a Friday and we had spent the early part of the afternoon driving from Whitmore College to Mystic Falls. We're staying the weekend at Ryan's home, where his mother lives alone. is super sweet. She said that we are free to visit and stay over anytime, with or without Ryan. I think she's feeling lonely. Ryan's dad died a couple years back and now that her son has moved out, it must be very quiet at home for her. I think I might take her up on her offer. Mystic Falls is a really nice place._

_It's neither large nor small, and it is neither noisy nor quiet. Mystic Falls has just about the right amount of everything. And there are a lot of woods here which I really want to explore. According to Ryan, there's a waterfall out there somewhere. Might make a good painting subject. _

_I found another stray cat today. I wish there was something I can do for all these animals. If I hit the lottery, the first thing I would do is build an animal shelter. I got the cat some fish I bought at the Mystic Grill but it didn't finish it. It just left. Which was kind of weird, as I could not remember anything that happened that might have caused it to flee. I remember watching it eating quite contently, but it's just blank after that. And I woke up next to a dumpster. Am I going crazy like grandpapa did? _

_I also found these red stains on my shirt today. My shirt was black, so I couldn't see clearly what the stains were but there were these real light red streaks on my skin too. I thought it might have been ketchup but I swear I just got that shirt cleaned before coming here. But it might have been the ketchup I used on the fish and chips. Strange though, I don't remember squeezing any on myself. I might be clumsy but I'm not stupid. Maybe I am going crazy like grandpapa. _

_I should remember to tell mum about this; I might need to go and get checkups. I hope not, though! _

_I really do miss home though. I'm thinking of going back for the holidays. I'm worried about grandmama. She's getting old and she's always overworking herself with looking after the temple, especially now that I'm not there to help her out anymore. I hope flight tickets are cheap. _

_We ate dinner at the Mystic Grill, because Ryan did not want to trouble his mother with any cooking and cleaning._

_I saw this guy over there and he was really good-looking. Like, celebrity level good-looking. The waiter at the Mystic Grill, Matt, was really cute too but he was on a different level completely. He said his name was Kol Mikaelson. _

_Mikaelson. _

_Even his name is pretty cool. It feels all archaic and noble. I managed to get his name and even gave him my name but we leave Mystic Falls on Sunday. Which really sucks as I wanted to get to know him; he might be my first boyfriend material! I feel like moving here now. Huh, mum will kill me if I did. _

_Diary, I feel like a little school girl in those Japanese dramas, gushing in you about a random hot guy I met. So I'll stop now._

_I'll write in you again soon._

* * *

**Did anyone notice the slight overlapping with chapter one in terms of words and actions? XD**

**The show is called The Vampire Diaries but the diary aspect hardly appears anymore after season 1 :S In honor of the name, I made Jay a diary writer too hurr**

**Kol is hardly apologetic of course...it was all an act. I can totally imagine Kol acting all concerned when inside he's all "Rawwwr!" XD**

**Please review if you enjoyed this story and this chapter! What you liked about it, what you wish to see, questions about the characters etc anything goes in the reviews! **

**Read and Review~ R and R! **


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